Programs

Chinese as Second Language (CSL) for Children

Photo of introductory Mandarin class

These classes are designed for children who are new to Mandarin. We develop student language skills in the following order:

Comprehension of spoken Mandarin
Usage (idioms)
Reading
Writing

Our teaching approach is based on the most current research for early language learning conducted by CLASS (Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools), NNELL (National Network for Early Language Learning), and ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages).

Class	Age	Description
Panda	3 – 5	Teaches comprehension of spoken Mandarin through games, songs, school plays, flash cards, multimedia, and other activities. Instructors provide handouts and CDs. We also encourage families to use materials such as My First Chinese Words (36 booklets plus CD). This curriculum set is published by Better Chinese and available for purchase from RMCS.
Introduction to Mandarin	6 – 9 and 9 – 13
Phonics	6+	Teaches basic writing, pronunciation, and usage (idioms). Instructors provide handouts.
Advanced classes A1 – A3	6+	Teaches speaking, reading, and writing. Uses the My First Chinese Reader curriculum, volumes 1-4, published by Better Chinese.

Class

Age

Description

Panda

3 – 5

Teaches comprehension of spoken Mandarin through games, songs, school plays, flash cards, multimedia, and other activities.

Instructors provide handouts and CDs. We also encourage families to use materials such as My First Chinese Words (36 booklets plus CD). This curriculum set is published by Better Chinese and available for purchase from RMCS.

Photo of My First Chinese Words books and CD

Introduction to Mandarin

6 – 9
and
9 – 13

Phonics

Teaches basic writing, pronunciation, and usage (idioms). Instructors provide handouts.

Advanced classes A1 – A3

Teaches speaking, reading, and writing. Uses the My First Chinese Reader curriculum, volumes 1-4, published by Better Chinese.

Instructors teach in Mandarin whenever practical, resorting to English as necessary. Parents are encouraged to attend class along with their children so they are better equipped to practice Mandarin at home. (Of course, we request that they remain quietly in the background and refrain from disrupting classroom activities.)

All class levels introduce students to elements of Chinese culture (songs, festivals, literature, games, etc.) that are prevalent throughout the Chinese-speaking world.

Students usually spend multiple sessions at the same class level and move on only after instructor recommendation. When students successfully complete the "A" track, they will be prepared to take the College Board's Advanced Placement exam for Chinese. They will also know enough Mandarin to study, travel, and work in a Chinese-speaking country.

Adult Language Classes

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Summer Camp

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More on Mandarin

Reading and Writing

In modern Mandarin, there are two character sets: traditional and simplified. Traditional characters are used throughout the Chinese-speaking world. Simplified characters are used primarily in the People's Republic of China. The following example shows the Chinese word for "write" (xiĕ) written in both traditional and simplified style.

Graphic that illustrates traditional vs simplified Chinese

At RMCS, we teach the traditional characters first because they are the foundation of both character sets. After students master the traditional characters, we introduce the simplified versions.

Teaching the characters in this order prepares students to read and write both character sets. Students also have a better foundation for learning classical Chinese.

Pronunciation

When teaching Mandarin pronunciation, we use two learning aids: Zhuyin fuhao (also called "Bopomofo") and Hanyu Pinyin.

Zhuyin fuhao is a set of 37 Chinese symbols that represent specific Mandarin sounds. Students learn zhuyin so they can look up words in the dictionary and write spoken words based on their sounds (helpful if they don't know the character or there is none). Zhuyin also appears on the keys of some cell phones and computers.

Hanyu pinyin is a notation system that represents the pronunciation of Mandarin words in the Latin alphabet. Pinyin is used by foreigners learning to speak Chinese. However, Chinese students also learn it, and it has become the standard United Nations Romanization notation.

The following example shows the word "Bopomofo" written in both zhuyin and pinyin.

Graphic showing the word Bopomofo written in both Zhuyin and pinyin

A Final Note

If all this business about traditional and simplified and zhuyin and pinyin is starting to make learning Mandarin sound incredibly complicated... well, just wait until you encounter even more maddening complexities of Mandarin.

However, looking at the bright side, in contrast to English and European languages, at least Mandarin has no plurals, verb tenses, or inflections.